Stretcher frame for tents



May 15, 1928. 1,669,778 A. S. PROCTER STRETCHER FRAME FOR TENTS Filed Jan. 26, 1925 INVEN TOR. A 6 fivcfer 3 ATTORNEY.

Patented May 15, 1928.

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STRETCHER FRAME FOB TENTSi Ai'pplio'ati'om filed January This invention relates to tents of the S0 called. palmetto. t'ypeiandrmore particularly to certain new and useful improvements in the stretcher-frame which in tents of this class co-operates with an upright cen ter pole to support and form the canvas of which the tent is composed.

The stretcher frame above referred to comprises four members engaging in pockets at the joints between the wall and roof portions of the tent and the present invention has for its object to provide a simple and practical means for connecting the ends of the members in rectangular formation to conjointly form a rigid frame adapted to hold the canvas in shape.

An embodiment of the invention has been illustrated in the accompan ing drawings in the several views of Whic like parts are similarly designated and in which Figure 1 represents an elevation of a tent of the type to which my invention is applicable;

Figure 2, an enlarged horizontal section through the tent-structure above the stretcher frame thereof, along the line 2-2, Figure 1;

Figure 3, a fragmentary vertical section through the adjoining portions of the wall and roof sections of the tent showing the form of the pockets in which the members of the stretcher frame are held.

Figure 4, an enlarged view, with parts of the frame members broken away, of adjoining end-portions of two members of the frame, showing the construction of the devices by which they are fastened together in rectangular arrangement;

Figure 5, a section along the line 55 Figure 4;

Figure 6, a section taken on the line 6-6, Figure 4; and

Figure 7, a section similar to that shown in Figure 5, indicating the position of a setscrew to fasten the members of the frame together.

The canvas tent-structure consists of four wall sections 5 and a corresponding number of top or roof sections 6 which adjoin one another in horizontal lines as at 7 The structure is supported by an upright center pole 8 and it is held in shape by the stretcher frame which is applied at the juncture of the top and wall sections of the same.

The frame consists of four tubular membars 9 contained in sheaths or pocketsll):

formed: at the: juncture of the tent sections;

as best shown in Figures 2 and 3.

The ends of the frame-members protrude from the sheaths to be fastened together in rectangular formation, and the means whereby the members are thus secured consist of plugs inserted in their ends and provided respectively with a tongue and a slot fitting one into the other.

The female or slot-member of the fasten-' ing has in an enlarged head 12 of a shank 13 inserted inthe frame member 9, a longitudinal slot 14; open at the outer end thereof and the correlative male or tongue-member of the fastening has in longitudinal alinement with its shank 15, a tongue 16 which fits loosely in the slot of the other member.

The male member has moreover a collar 17 between its tongue and its shank, which forms a shoulder to engage the end of the set-screw 20 as shownv in Figure 7 of the drawings.

It will be apparent that the fastenings when assembled as shown and described, connect the members of the stretcher frame so as to form a rigid structure for the support and formation of the tent, and that they permit of the members being readily detached and removed from their sheaths when the tent is not in use.

It is further to be understood that the parts of the frame may each have a female fastening member at one end and a male member at the opposite end in which case the several parts of the frame are identically alike and interchangeable, or that each part may have either male or female fastening members at its opposite ends to be used in pairs with parts having the complementary members of the fastenings and placed between the others.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a tent-structure, a stretcher-frame composed of end-to-end adjoining parts, and fustenings for said parts, each comprising a female member having a longitudinal slot and a recess at a side thereof, and a male member having a tongue fitting in said slot and a collar fitting in the recess.

2,111 a tent-structure, a stretcher-fram composed of end-toend adjoining parts, and fastenings for said parts, each comprising a female member having a shank for its attachment to the frame part, and a head at an end of the shank provided with a longitudinal slot and a recess at a side thereof, and a male member having a shank for its attachment to the frame-part, and a head at 15 an end of the shank provided with a tongue fitting in the slot of the other member, and a collar fitting in the recess of the same.

In testimony whereof I have afiixed my signature. 

